Downton Abbey Costume Recap: Season 6, Episode 8

We here at Frock Flicks (okay, Kendra and Trystan) are so excited for the final season of Downton Abbey that we’re doing weekly costume recaps AND podcasts! Tune in each week for an episode-by-episode recap of our thoughts on both the plot and (especially) the costumes (designed by Anna Robbins) — because really, while we all are invested in the lives of the fictional Crawley family, don’t we actually keep coming back to see what they’re wearing? You can find the podcast at the bottom of this post, or on iTunes!

It’s the home stretch, the last episode before the final finale, the so-called Christmas special (which obviously isn’t airing at Christmas for us Yanks). That means the show had best wrap up some storylines, stat!

Ooo, nice parasols — we haven’t seen many of those recently.

The pastels aren’t exciting, but they’re appropriate to the period. It’s interesting how Edith’s print is almost psychedelic.

Our friendly local police officer shows up to inform Mrs. Patmore that she’s running a House of Ill Repute.

Love how Anna’s hat is shaped to allow a chignon.

Mrs. Hughes-Carson always wears this chatelaine — tiny scissors as if to snip a bitch. Mrs. Patmore needs a sit-down.

Rosamund’s hair is elegantly pinned up in the back. Notice how they use a side twist to emulate a shaped bob, but clearly her hair is still long.

And she has great jewelry.

Obligatory Kendra squealing “PUPPEH!”

Foreshadowing…

Mary seems to have a million stunning coats with asymmetrical collars — this one is in a brilliant cranberry.

With buttons down the back!

Here’s another subtle variation on basic black on Baxter.

OK, seeing this dress for the umpteenth time, even Trystan is tired of it.

Edith rocking the gold. Check how the print goes in waves. And NICE BLING!

Edith tells everyone her sweetie is gonna be a marquess.

Rosamund’s gold & black gown is fab, and here’s a great view of her long hair styled to look like a short marcel wave. It’s harder to see Isobel, but there’s some definite texture going on.

Mary’s face when she learns that Edith is going to outrank her: PRICELESS.

The geometric beading on Mary’s gown is very deco and almost makes up for the crappy head necklace. Almost. Hopefully you can see the tassels that are incorporated into the trim, just above her waist. FABulous.

Oh for chrissakes. What happened to all the lovely bandeaus? Or even that wired Christmas ribbon?

The next day, Mary is grumpy.

Let’s go for one more tweedy brother-sister walk.

These two love their tweedy walks.

Cora’s looking rather mumsy here.

We’re getting a Stepford Wife vibe.

Oh hai, we could out-rank all of you (if Edith doesn’t fuck it up).

Rosamund livens things up with her orientalist print jacket.

Closeup of Rosamund’s print, and hello, Edith in blue and cream.

This Moroccan print is astounding.

Isobel keeps it tasteful in a muted blue.

The printed accents on Mary’s dress add interest, and Kendra was quite fond of this ensemble, but something about it made Trystan want to stick a fork in her (or Mary’s) eye.

Over at Mrs. Patmore’s, her sister is bearing the brunt of the ire for the Ill Repute Debacle of 1925.

Sister-of-Patmore is kind of dumpy in her pale beige and pink dress.

Mr. Moseley has his first day of teaching. It doesn’t go great.

Meanwhile, Edith and Bertie get some alone time:

Time for an uncomfortable conversation! (And another pretty parasol.)

Nope, Edith chickens out. I wish we could see this parasol from the outside — I’ll bet it ties in with Edith’s AMAZING embroidery.

Back in the Abbey, the children continue to be The Calmest Children of All Time (Kendra thinks they are drugged).

Embroidery details extend to the back of Edith’s blouse.

Drugged children enjoy the show.

And Henry shows up to annoy Mary (okay, because Tom invited him).

Mary’s shoes match her top.

Everyone’s getting dressed for dinner:

Cora’s dress is a nice color on her, and all that lace! Here’s another shot of Rosamund’s side-roll faux-bob.

Another gold and black number for Rosamund — the combo suits her. Except the short sleeves make Kendra think of something you’d wear to a Republican fundraiser.

Mary makes a subtle entrance.

This is my ‘Go away, Henry Talbot, I’m totally not interested in you, nothing to see here, move along’ look.

Edith sticks with gold, this time with tone-on-tone beading.

This beaded head thingy — the hell?!?

After dinner, Bertie and Edith talk and Bertie leaves feeling like they are Officially Engaged.

Here you can see the full length of Edith’s ensemble.

The next day, Mary shits on Edith because she’s jealous, telling Bertie that Marigold is Edith’s biological daughter.

What do YOU wear for ruining your sister’s life? Mary goes tweedy, with a cute cross-over neckline blouse.

Edith’s peach dress is cute — great color on her, and Kendra loves these necktie styles.

In the library, Cora and Rosamund are hanging:

Rosamund in orange.

Cora in a print that’s a great color on her.

Over at Lord Merton’s house, Isobel confronts Miss Cruikshanks:

This episode is epically parasol-heavy, and we like it.

Miss Cruikshanks is going for a pale print.

This hat with the black and white ribbon is Isobel’s best of the season.

Back at the Abbey, Bertie is breaking up with Edith. Noooooo!

If you’re going to get dumped, wear an interesting dress.

This embroidery is a STUNNER. LOVE the color combination — going blue/white/green/red is totally unexpected against the peach, and it’s GREAT.

The print just keeps going and going (like the break-up).

Diamond inset! Lined kick pleats!

Back inside, Tom channels all of us and tells off Mary:

Who me? What did I do?

You tell her, Tom!

And here’s an overview of Mary’s “I’m a Total Bitch” ensemble.

Edith to Mary: “I know you to be a nasty, jealous, scheming bitch.” As do we all.

Edith ruffles off to London.

Moseley heads back for teaching day 2 with Baxter along:

Baxer may just wear simple black, but she gets some elegant trim on her hat.

Daisy does some (nice) snooping as Moseley teaches, which goes WAY better today:

Shockingly, she’s not in peach or orange — except for the hat!

The warm brown is in her wheelhouse, however.

That night, Mary is snappy with Anna and feels bad. About being snappy.

Japanese kimono as a robe, and her nightgown has some kind of embroidery on it.

In London, Edith focuses on work:

Consoling herself with work and a fabulous Chinoiserie jacket.

Laura, the editor, is in blue, and the secretary rewears her peach dress.

Over at the Abbey, Violet heard about Mary and Henry and is back from France to fix shit.

20 Responses

Mary’s wedding gown is meh-to-the-1,000th power. I know it’s a rush affair, but couldn’t the designer come up with something better.
Edith is really coming into her own. But I think she should have told Bertie. So did everyone in the Crawley family.
My favourite scene is Edith’s telling Mary that she forgives her bc one day they’ll be the only ones who remember Sybil.
But I have a feeling that Mary will be instrumental in getting Bertie & Edith to marry, even though Edith will outrank her.

As to Mary’s wedding dress (can’t really call it a “gown”), I was actually happy to see it, as it actually looked much more appropriate to the twenties than her first wedding gown did. Frumpy? Yeah, kinda, but that’s par for the course with 20s wedding gowns.

Personally, I found the way the Henry plot went super troubling. She breaks up and is clear about not wanting to see him. He shows up at Downton anyways, and all the characters, presumably as stand ins for the omnipotent writing gods are like “Oh, it’s so clear you are in love!” and “You need a man who you can’t boss around!” and don’t respect her boundaries at all. It doesn’t matter if her reason for breaking up was good enough or made sense. They’re broken up. Why does everyone enable his stalker ass?! And when he follows her upstairs and is all “I know better than you what you want!”

listening to your podcast now..YES!!!!!! total Cee You Next Tuesday – Mary…grrr…still fuming from last night…couldn’t wait to hear your commentary!! Love listening to you guys and reading your reviews.

As the long suffering Edith to my own sister Mary/Cheri, I totally get why she forgave her awful sister for blowing up her life. However, I did/do what Edith to punch Mary right in that self-righteous mouth. How dare she throw stones at Edith for Marigold when she is not exactly pure as the driven snow. If Edith does not get her happy ending in the Christmas Special I am going to fly to England and throttle all the writers.

Neither did I, but it’s logical and period. Children were often christened with the parents’ names as either first or middle. I expect Edith was Rosamund or Violet. Mary probably got the queen’s, Victoria.

Donk was being basically ‘Donkish’ in his grief and guilt over Sybil’s demise. After all, he insisted that the knighted physician treat her. This was over the objections of both Cora and more importantly her husband, Tom. Practise was to defer to wishes of spouse. Medieval, but it was the way things were done.

I finally noticed, thanks to your photos, what a nice job the casting folk did in matching Samantha Bond as the daughter of the ineffable Maggie Smith.

Even more exciting, being a women’s basketball fan, I finally realized that Laura Carmichael looks like Lindsay Gottlieb (Cal Berkeley coach). Now, every time I see Lindsay hollering instructions from the sidelines, I’ll imagine her doing so in ’20s frocks and little cloches.

Re: the black beaded head-thingy on Mary. My grandmother, born in 1899, had a sleek bob and wore one of these in the 1920s. Hers was black with natting across and little crystals at each netting point. It has a slight frame that folds up- almost like you lined the inside of a banana clip. I always thought it was worn farther back on the head though…

I don’t think I’ve cackled at anything else on the show more than I did when Edith drops the marquess bomb and the resulting glee of the family/Mary’s face of horror! This podcast episode made me laugh almost as hard though… Loved it!